I've been wanting for sometime to do this series and decided to finally just jump into it. Hopefully I can address these with some consistency over the next few weeks. There are certainly more cliches than I will touch on (if you have some that you'd like to get my take on, feel free to send them my way), but these are fairly prevalent in most Christian circles.
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Here is an appropriate quote from N. T. Wright on Col. 3:4-11.
'put to death...' and 'rid yourselves...' (vv. 5, 8). These verbs introduce two lists of vices, one relating to sexual sin, the other to sins of anger. The two lists are classic statements of the ways in which Christians can be untrue to themselves and, more importantly, to God. By bluntly naming sins which are all too often excused or glossed over with euphemisms, Paul sets a clear standard for the church both ancient and modern. Many Christians tend to concentrate on one list or the other: one knows of Christian communities that would be appalled at the slightest sexual irregularity but which are nests of malicious intrigue, backbiting, gossip and bad temper, and, conversely, of others where people are so concerned to live in untroubled harmony with each other that they tolerate flagrant immorality. The gospel, however, leaves no room for behaviour of either sort. (N. T. Wright, Colossians and Philemon, TNTC (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008) As in Paul's situation, ours has not changed much. The call today for the Church to embrace a post-modern sexual ethic finds no grounding in the ethical vision of the New Testament, which was decidedly "conservative" in these matters (and pitting Jesus against the rest of the NT authors doesn't accomplish that end either). In the same way, the narrow factionism that is found on the other end of the spectrum in Christian circles does little to further the kingdom or to embrace the NT call for the unity of believers. Both sets of prohibitions must be headed, though their is polarization today concerning which modern audiences need to hear which vice-list the most. |
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